Nearly two months ago (Sat., May 16, 2026), top Flyweight prospect Phumi Nkuta suffered the first loss of his professional career at MVP MMA 1 after former ONE Championship titleholder Adriano Moraes put him to sleep in the final seconds of their preliminary-card clash inside Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California (watch highlights).
It was extremely controversial.
Moraes locked in a rear-naked choke late in the third round, but the finish came right as the final horn sounded. To make matters even messier, the choke appeared to be held after the bell, leading veteran referee Herb Dean to request an instant replay review because of the controversial timing.
After reviewing the sequence that night, the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) ultimately ruled that Moraes secured the technical submission with one second remaining in the fight.
A day after the event, Nkuta’s team filed an appeal with CSAC.
Today (Mon., July 13, 2026), the decision came through.
“Turbo” got denied.
“We watched this replay,” CSAC executive director Andy Foster said, h/t MMA Junkie. “I bet I’ve watched it 80 times now. We’ve watched it over and over. I’m still unsure when he went unconscious. When we’re not sure about something, it needs to be clear and convincing evidence if this commission is going to flip a fight, just to be very clear. I can’t tell you in any definitive way, at what point are we flipping the fight? What I can tell you is Mr. Nkuta would’ve won that fight, had he not been choked. I can tell you that. That was going to happen. The question for the commissioners is, and you can watch the tape and get your own opinion, is at what point was he unconscious?”
Foster also addressed whether Moraes should have been penalized for holding onto the choke after the horn.“Another point is, do you think Herb should’ve charged him with a foul for holding it?” Foster said. “I’ve heard the word, ‘2.15 seconds long.’ I wasn’t sure if it was that long, but let’s assume that it was 2.15 seconds. I don’t know if it was that long, but let’s make it that because that’s what I was told. I’ve seen fights like this, and I know you all have as well, where it happens quite frequently.
“The question is up for the commissioners, but my recommendation is we have to maintain what the referee called that night,” Foster continued. “We went to replay. We watched it many times that night and we still couldn’t determine.”
Nkuta, who was in Sacramento to attend Monday’s hearing in person, said he heard the bell and believes Moraes committed a foul by refusing to release the choke when Dean tried to intervene.
“If you see on the film as well, my eyes are squinting, my eyes are moving when the bell sounds,” Nkuta said. “From my perspective, I hear the bell. Obviously, it’s for you guys and the commission to decide. I think the one clear thing here is that Moraes did hold that choke for the extended amount of time. For anyone who has grappled before at a high level, or at any juncture, knows when you’ve held a choke in for a requisite amount of time, every second counts.
“He got the choke in in nine seconds,” Nkuta continued. “We’re already nine seconds in and Herb gets his hands on him. While Herb is prying his hands, he’s still holding the choke. Now, if he’d let go immediately, we’d have a clearer distinction of, ‘OK, he was unconscious.’”
Nkuta then made his position very clear.
“Moraes, in my opinion, clearly committed a foul,” Nkuta said. “Herb gets on him, tries to rip his hands off, and he continues to choke. From the back, they say, ‘Hold on to whatever and keep fighting until I stop it.’ Herb did try to stop it, and Moraes still continued to hold the choke. So from that perspective as well, I just kind of look at it as he got away with one.”
Still, even with Nkuta’s argument, CSAC upheld the original result, and his appeal was denied.
The defeat at MVP MMA 1 snapped Nkuta’s impressive 11-fight win streak, a run that saw him capture championships in A1 Combat, Peak Fighting Championship and CFFC.
It is also worth pointing out that Dean has been under fire since the controversial Moraes-Nkuta finish.
The biggest criticism has come from former UFC two-division champion Alex Pereira, who has gone scorched earth on Dean over back-of-the-head shots he said he received against Ciryl Gane at UFC Freedom 250.
UFC Featherweight Andre Fili also complained that he was hit in the back of the head in his latest loss and believes Dean should have done something about it.
So, while Nkuta’s appeal is officially dead, the conversation around Dean’s recent refereeing is not going anywhere.
And this decision probably will not quiet it down.
